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Thursday, April 4, 2013

Making Ebony Plugs

The weather was so nice this afternoon that I decided to set up on the deck with a beer and make the rest of the plugs for the cabinet. Here are some pictures showing the process that I have been using.

I was using some 80 grit sandpaper to start the round but found that the deep scratched took too long to polish out. trimming the corners with the chisel first was much faster than starting with the 150 grit and gave me good results.

After trimming the shape of the plug was defined with 150 grit.

Shaped and ready for polishing. I followed up with 220, 320, 600 and 1000 grit. If I had a grinder with a buffing wheel that would be a great way to get a really nice shine on them.

After the plugs were polished they were cut to length, ~3/8".

Each of the sides was then beveled slightly, starting ~1/16 from the low points on the corners.

Finished plug.

9 plugs in just about 45 minutes.

A little dab of yellow glue in the hole and tap them into place so that the corners are just proud of the surface.